Hauntii feels the best when you let go

I wasn’t able to start enjoying Moonloop Games’ Hauntii until I let go of the idea of playing the game correctly. Chasing a mysterious ghost through Hauntii’s gorgeously stylized afterlife, I kept asking myself: Am I doing this right? Moonloop Games does begin with an exploration of the buttons and their functions, but that’s about it. What you do next is up to you. Thankfully, it did not take long to start messing around with what’s possible and what’s not — and I started to appreciate Hauntii’s few expectations, a similar experience I had with A Short Hike, one of my all-time favorite games.

Everything in Hauntii is light or dark; playing as an inky ghost — new to the afterlife — I’m following an angelic figure throughout the darkened world. I navigate by following the light and creating it where there is none, via Hauntii’s twin-stick mechanic. Using one stick to move and another to shoot, I can fire away at enemy beings or I can inhabit objects to shake their light free, creating a path to wherever I’m heading next. But where am I heading next? Am I going in the right direction? I haven’t yet finished Hauntii, so I really don’t know. And that’s OK.

Despite the melancholy nature of the environment and the game’s themes, Hauntii feels aesthetically light and playful; that extends to the mindset I’ve had playing it, too. But that doesn’t mean there is no challenge in Hauntii: The afterlife is inhabited by some corrupt creatures that must be fought off — sometimes using that twin-stick shooting, elsewhere by “haunting” other beings in the environment. For example: There are certain instances in which I come up against a creepy, cat-eared monster who carries a blaster. Two, actually. I can jump into one of these monsters and use it to fight off the other. These action sequences do begin quite simply, but they get much more challenging as the game progresses, while still being forgiving enough that it doesn’t disrupt the game’s easygoing vibe.

The joy I’ve found in Hauntii isn’t in the chase after this mysterious angelic figure, but, as clichéd as it sounds, the exploration I get to do on the way. Hauntii has somewhat clear paths that lead to the “end” of a level, but taking those means missing out on little surprises spread throughout the world. These little surprises range from puzzles to interesting characters that build out Hauntii’s world through tiny moments of storytelling. That, plus Hauntii’s incredible, melancholy soundtrack, means it’s a world I’m happy to wander in.

There’s a lot to collect in Hauntii, some of which is necessary for moving on to its different sections — mushroom-laden woods, a lively amusement park, a moody graveyard, and more. What I collect leads me to unlock vignette cutscenes depicting memories of my character’s previous life, connecting the present journey with the past. It’s all very sweet, sometimes silly, and very sad. For some, Hauntii will begin to feel tedious as some environments stick around for too long, but I found those feelings of tedium went away, again, when I let go of what I was supposed to be doing and just sat in the bittersweet feelings of its stories.

I’m in a unique position in how I play games: Because of the nature of this job, I have to play a lot of them. It often means I’m thinking about the value of my time spent, playing efficiently and correctly to make sure I can experience the whole game in a reasonable amount of time. It’s hard to let go of that feeling when there’s always something new to move on to, and I’m glad Hauntii has reminded me that it’s nice to linger.

Hauntii was released on May 23 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was played on PC via a Steam Deck using download code provided by Moonloop Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.